


butterfly, fly away

by painttheworldinpastels



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Butterflies, Fluff, M/M, happy birthday jaemin!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 03:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20220754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painttheworldinpastels/pseuds/painttheworldinpastels
Summary: The stars in the sky glitter in Donghyuck's eyes as he sees happiness in the form of a butterfly.(in which a boy who loved butterflies is loved by a boy who thought he was lovelier than a million butterflies in flight)





	butterfly, fly away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boyeater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boyeater/gifts).

> this is a jaemin birthday fic but it's set during donghyuck's bday lmao, i'm sorry but. not really. i wub u mandy, i hope you like it! *bow* bark bark woof woof binch

When Jaemin removes the blindfold covering Donghyuck's eyes, he expected wide-eyed wonder and a brilliant grin. He did not expect furrowed eyebrows and an unhappy pout. "You brought me to a forest for my birthday?"

Jaemin bites his lip to contain his eagerness. "Yeah, I mean, I guess it does look like a rainforest, doesn't it?"

Donghyuck shrugs, trying not to let disappointment show, and even though Jaemin knows that Donghyuck is a bit upset about being woken up at six in the morning to be met with greenery that looks too much like the vegetables he avoids on his plate, and on his birthday nonetheless, he can't help the grin that spreads across his face. Donghyuck notices this and the frown starting to take place on his delicate features is dissolved by confusion.

"Are you really that excited to be here?" Hyuck quickly backtracks. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so sulky. It's a wonderful place, I'm sure, but—"

"It's okay, Duckie," Jaemin quickly shushes him. "It was my mistake—"

"No! Really, I love it here, go nature!!!"

"It was my mistake for bringing you to this side, you can't even see the sign from here. Lemme try again," Jaemin moves to place the blindfold back over Hyuck's eyes, and Hyuck sighs deeply as he indulges his boyfriend.

"Try not to be too disappointed this time," Jaemin smiles as he detaches the blindfold, and _finally_ he gets the reaction he expected, the reaction he wanted. _Moon's Butterfly Farm and Conservatory_ is etched on a wooden signboard above an arch of vines, flowers of every color blooming on every inch of it. Even from outside they can see the plethora of colors flapping in the air, hear the whirring of wings in flight, and Donghyuck starts bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Oh my god, oh my god, _oh my god_," Jaemin hears him chant. He whirls around quickly to face Jaemin, losing his balance in the process. Jaemin reaches out to steady him, and Donghyuck smiles at him with so much tenderness that it makes Jaemin's heart sing. "A butterfly farm?"

Jaemin smiles back at him softly, patting Hyuck's styled hair gently. "Happy birthday, Duckie."

Donghyuck's growing grin is a sight to see, a sight that immediately falls a minute later. "What's wrong?" Jaemin asks worriedly, and Donghyuck shakes his head slightly.

"Nothing, it's just that...I'm not exactly dressed to go into the wild." Donghyuck gestures wildly to himself. Jaemin's gaze goes from his brushed up hair to his sleek cream-colored collared satin shirt to the leather jacket pushed just a little bit off his shoulders to the shorts that don't go past his knees to his black socks and to the heeled leather boots on his feet, and he snickers. "I told you to dress modestly."

Hyuck huffs exaggeratedly. "I try to look cute for you and I'm not given the appreciation I deserve. I'm breaking up with you."

Jaemin tilts Donghyuck's chin up with a finger and kisses the tip of his nose. "You always look cute, babe. Right now you're more dressed for a runway than for a jungle expedition," Jaemin gestures to his more casual outfit, a simple button up shirt with a comfy pair of jeans and his favorite sneakers, along with a sun hat that he perches on Donghyuck's head, "but I'm sure the butterflies won't mind. You look like the most gorgeous baby vamp anyone's ever seen."

"Ha ha ha, real funny, I'm sure their sensitive nature wont mind this agent of darkness walking around their sunshine-y area. The sunhat will definitely fool them. I am one with the plants, binches."

Jaemin just barely resists the urge to pinch Hyuck's cheeks, puffed out like they always are when he's petulant about something, when they hear a chiming of bells. Jaemin tugs on Hyuck's arm as he starts walking in the direction of the entrance. "Let's go inside, Fashionable Count Dracula, the group tour starts in fifteen minutes."

***_*_***

Look, Jaemin wasn't expecting the tour to be fun, but he did think it would be interesting. Right now, however, neither him or Donghyuck are very interested in what Taeil, the attractive but painfully boring, tour guide is saying. All he remembers from all the talking that has been done is that the peaks of the caterpillars aren't actually harmful and that they're mostly for decoration (Hyuck gets to touch one and he squirms adorably as he does), and a lesson on the butterfly's life cycle that Jaemin remembers being taught as far back as grade school, so yes he knows that egg -> caterpillar -> pupa -> butterfly, _thank you Taeil for that riveting breakdown of metamorphosis_. Both Jaemin and Donghyuck zone out when he starts going into detail about reproduction, and Jaemin becomes content with watching Donghyuck's gaze flit from one butterfly to another.

Something buzzes near Jaemin's ear and he almost swats at it but he remembers where he is. A butterfly conservation center. Where harming the insects is frowned upon and highly discouraged, if not a downright felony. So Jaemin sighs and lets it keep buzzing.

A giant white butterfly flies close to them and Taeil extends an open palm towards it. The butterfly lands on it, and promptly collapses.

A collective gasp resounds from the audience. "Is it dead?" someone asks, and as morbid as it sounds, Jaemin's attention is piqued.

"No, but it's a defense mechanism. If I tilt my hand like this, just the slightest bit," Taeil moves his hand slowly, and the butterfly falls off his hand, unmoving, causing loud murmurs to erupt (Jaemin feels Donghyuck clutch on to his bicep in fear for the butterfly's fate), before spreading its wings and flying away. "Bye-bye," Taeil waves at it, and so do a couple of little kids. Cute.

Donghyuck breathes a sigh of relief, but he doesn't remove his hand from Jaemin's arm. Nevertheless, Jaemin puts his hand on top of Donghyuck's, keeping it in place. They probably look like a (young) married couple, albeit a bizarre one if they consider their opposing outfits. Jaemin revels in it, in the fact that the stunning creature that chooses to stay next to him (not the butterfly still buzzing by his ear, frick that) is attracting everyone's attention (though not the attention Hyuck desired, because none of the butterflies would even dare to waft close to him), but Hyuck's attention is solely focused on him. (And the butterflies. And Taeil, sometimes.)

The tour concludes earlier than Jaemin expects it to, and Taeil immediately gives them golden tips on how to catch the butterflies. Golden, as in honey.

"So you put honey on your finger and wait for one to perch on it." As if on cue, a beautiful orange butterfly, the most popular one, the one that immediately pops into people's heads when someone says the word "butterfly", _a monarch, was it?_ lands on Taeil's honey-smothered finger. "Try to cover the body of the butterfly, but don't touch the wings. Try not to startle them too much, and try not to get too attached because they're more interested in sucking out pollen than staying to chit-chat." Taeil winks at them. "It'll be hard to photograph them, but please feel free to try! Without the flash, of course. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your stay!"

The group breaks off into their own cliques, and Donghyuck immediately drags Jaemin to a corner teeming with flowers as soon as he obtains some honey. "I'm so excited, I've never done this before," he tells Jaemin as he smears honey all over his fingers.

"But you said you've caught butterflies before?"

"With a net, Jaemin. And a jar to keep them in."

"Don't the nets harm the butterflies?"

Donghyuck frowns in thought. It's not the expression Jaemin wants him to wear, especially on his birthday, so Jaemin peppers his face in kisses. One on his forehead, another on his nose. A smooch on both of his eyelids, and two pecks per cheek. More kisses to line his jaw, and Jaemin sprinkles kisses on both of his (red) ears. He'd have littered kisses down the column of Hyuck's neck as well if they weren't so exposed, because gasp! What about the children! Protect their innocence!!!

Jaemin leaves Hyuck's side and sits down on a nearby bench as Donghyuck whirls around and around, eyes following the flight of a hundred multi-colored wings. He looks like a little kid, charming and sweet, not a care in the world, staring at the creepy crawlies like they're the most important things in his life at the moment, and Jaemin is terribly endeared.

Donghyuck is wiggling his fingers above his head, all of them covered in honey in an attempt to get the butterflies to come to him. It's futile though, especially when he keeps twirling around and walking off in different directions, making it difficult for both the butterflies and Jaemin to keep track of him.

On the other hand, while Donghyuck is struggling to get even one butterfly within arms length, Jaemin is swarmed by a five, then seven, then ten. He doesn't know why, since he didn't take any of the honey, and he doesn't know how, so he can't teach Donghyuck. Donghyuck glares at him. "Stop hoarding the butterflies!"

Jaemin grimaces as one flies too close to his nostrils, and he curls his hands into fists to keep from batting them away. "Trust me, I'm not trying to."

They spend half an hour like that, with Jaemin hardly breathing as to not shock the butterflies that he is admittedly growing more fond of now that they seem to have taken a liking to him and Donghyuck still scrabbling to attract one, just one, even just one would be enough. Jaemin pities his boyfriend for a moment before said boyfriend points his sticky fingers in Jaemin's direction. "You."

Jaemin's eyes widen. "Me?" His head jerks back a bit and the movement sends the butterflies away in a flurry, but they quickly move back towards him when he's still. Jaemin tries not to feel too elated, especially when his cute baby vamp is looking at him like he'd just destroyed all of his hopes and dreams.

"Yes, you. How the hell are you doing that? They're flocking to you like you're Jesus."

"You never know Duckie, I might be."

"Lord Jaesus, please spare me a butterfly."

Jaemin's lips curl upward tauntingly. "Maybe they can sense your previous sins against their kind and refuse to satisfy your craving for more butterfly suffering."

"Please, we always let them go afterwards. And they were never harmed in the process. Or were they? I'm not sure, but I never squashed any of them. Not even accidentally." A small brown butterfly crosses Donghyuck's general area then, and Hyuck immediately sticks his hands out towards it. It flies close to him but doesn't settle on his hands dripping with honey. Instead, it dances around Donghyuck's vision and disappears just as quickly as it had come, and Jaemin sees Donghyuck press his lips together tightly to suppress a scream.

Jaemin slowly gets up, and the cloud of wings surrounding him disperses, if only for a moment. They follow him until they notice that he's moving towards Donghyuck, and the butterflies flee like they were faced with a monster. The frown on Hyuck's face is etched so deep that Jaemin could trace it with his fingers, and he does. He pats Hyuck's cheek lightly to cheer him up. "They don't want to go to you because you literally can't stay immobile. Stop moving around so much." He goes behind Hyuck to place his hands on Donghyuck's shoulders to keep him still. "Just like this," he whispers in Donghyuck's ear, and he feels the shiver that passes through Donghyuck's spine. He smiles to himself, because he's aware of how this looks like and he's aware of the dirty looks the oldies are giving them but he swears that this is all innocent, he just wants his boyfriend to stop scaring all the butterflies away. He nudges Donghyuck to remove his jacket, and his hands trail down Hyucks's shoulders to to hold on to his arms, trying to get Donghyuck's body to relax against his.

"Maybe it's the outfit." Donghyuck complains. "Do you think I should buy one of those brightly colored shirts they sell at the souvenir shop? I think they flock to things that look like flowers."

"Aaww, thanks for acknowledging my fresh visuals, Duckie."

"Not your face, you tall tree, I meant your getup."

"You look a lot more approachable and animal-friendly now without the bulky jacket, so you should be fine like this." Jaemin transfers the hat from Donghyuck's head to his own, and he pats down Hyuck's hair that has begun to flatten. He ruffles it a bit as they wait for more butterflies to approach, combing his fingers through Hyuck's hair while Donghyuck stands with his fingers outstretched, looking like an odd scarecrow. Or perhaps a zombie. Michael Jackson's Thriller starts to play in Jaemin's mind, but he immediately shuts it off before he can start humming it and Hyuck starts dancing and moving around again.

Before Donghyuck can complain that this isn't working, a large white butterfly that looks like the one that played dead in Taeil's hand touches down on Donghyuck's fingers. Donghyuck sucks in a breath, trying not to move, willing himself to turn to stone.

"Baby, you're allowed to breathe."

"It'll fly away if I do," Donghyuck whispers. "Best to stay quiet. And very, very still."

And they stay very, very still, at least until the butterfly gets bored and soars upwards. Donghyuck turns to Jaemin, eyeing him suspiciously. "Are you sure you haven't done this before? You're awfully good at it."

"I'm good at a lot of things, Duckie. Apparently catching butterflies is one of those things."

"This isn't fair," Donghyuck whines. "Why don't they like me? What do they see in you? _You?_"

"You could probably answer that question. I honestly don't know what you saw in me either."

"Hush, don't undermine yourself like that." Donghyuck goes back to his initial position, back pressed against Jaemin's chest. "Get me some more butterflies."

"Your wish is my command." Jaemin flicks his wrist, and a hoard of butterflies hovers over them. It leaves Donghyuck in shock, and Jaemin too because _wow_, he did _not_ expect that to work. But it did, and butterflies are now Jaemin's favorite animals.

A small, dainty blue butterfly lands on Donghyuck's nose, and the giggle he lets out is captivating. Jaemin feels lighter just hearing it, like all the burdens of the mortal world have been lifted from him. He supposes that he has the butterflies to thank for that, for making Donghyuck chuckle softly as they tickle his fingers. It's a ravishing sound, coupled with a ravishing sight, and Jaemin lets it envelope him with the warmth of the summer sun, the blow of the gentle breeze, and the love of his life staring straight into a cloud of wings that are just as colorful as what Jaemin wants his future to look like. His future with Donghyuck.


End file.
